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End of the Hamlet of Gruchy
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
1866
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
81.6 x 100.6 cm (32 1/8 x 39 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession Number17.1508
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Representing the hamlet in Normandy where Millet grew up, the son of prosperous peasants, this painting contributed to the artist's image as a "peasant painter." He presented it as a distillation of his youth, writing to his agent, "Oh you spaces that made me dream so much in my childhood, will I ever be able to give a hint of what you are like?" The landscape was based on memory and on studies done some ten years before.
InscriptionsLower right: J. F. Millet
Provenance1866, sold by the artist to Hector Brame (b. 1831 - d. 1899) and Antoine-François Monmartel (b. 1816 - d. 1898), Paris [see note 1]; May 11-14, 1868, Monmartel sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 55, to Hector Brame [see note 2]; probably sold by Brame and Durand-Ruel, Paris, to Jean-Baptiste Faure (b. 1830 - d. 1914), Paris [see note 3]; June 7, 1873, Faure sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 26, probably to Durand-Ruel, Paris [see note 4]. By 1879, Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston [see note 5]; 1917, gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy A. Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)
NOTES:
[1] See Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, "Millet racconté par lui-même" (Paris, 1921), vol. 3, p. 5. Monmartel lent the painting to the Salon of 1866 (no. 1376).
[2] See Alfred Sensier, "La vie et l'oeuvre de J.-F. Millet" (Paris, 1881), p. 292, n. 1.
[3] Hector Brame was an art dealer who worked with Durand-Ruel. It is likely that they sold this painting to Faure. For a summary of Brame's work as a dealer, see Linda Whitely, "Brame, Hector" in the Grove Dictionary of Art (New York, 1996).
[4] Durand-Ruel purchased 22 of the 31 paintings included in this sale; see Anthea Callen, "Faure and Manet," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, ser. 6, vol. 83 (1974), p. 160.
[5] Published as in the Shaw collection by Edward Strahan, ed., "The Art Treasures of America" (Philadelphia, 1879), vol. 3, p. 86.
NOTES:
[1] See Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, "Millet racconté par lui-même" (Paris, 1921), vol. 3, p. 5. Monmartel lent the painting to the Salon of 1866 (no. 1376).
[2] See Alfred Sensier, "La vie et l'oeuvre de J.-F. Millet" (Paris, 1881), p. 292, n. 1.
[3] Hector Brame was an art dealer who worked with Durand-Ruel. It is likely that they sold this painting to Faure. For a summary of Brame's work as a dealer, see Linda Whitely, "Brame, Hector" in the Grove Dictionary of Art (New York, 1996).
[4] Durand-Ruel purchased 22 of the 31 paintings included in this sale; see Anthea Callen, "Faure and Manet," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, ser. 6, vol. 83 (1974), p. 160.
[5] Published as in the Shaw collection by Edward Strahan, ed., "The Art Treasures of America" (Philadelphia, 1879), vol. 3, p. 86.